Australia

Religion
Australia has no state religion. In the 2006 census, 64% of Australians listed themselves as Christian, including 26% as Roman Catholic and 19% as Anglican. "No religion" (which includeshumanism, atheism, agnosticism, and rationalism) accounted for 19% and is the fastest growing group (refer difference in census 2006 versus census 2001 results) and a further 12% declined to answer (thequestion is optional) or did not give a response adequate for interpretation. The second largest religion in Australia is Buddhism (2.1%), followed by Islam (1.7%), Hinduism (0.8%) and Judaism(0.5%). Overall less than 6% of Australians identify with non-Christian religions. Weekly attendance at church services in 2004 was about 1.5 million: about 7.5% of the population and religion does not playa central role in the lives of a large portion of the population.
Religions: Catholic 25.8%, Anglican 18.7%, Uniting Church 5.7%, Presbyterian and Reformed 3%, Eastern Orthodox 2.7%, other Christian7.9%, Buddhist 2.1%, Muslim 1.7%, other 2.4%, unspecified 11.3%, none 18.7% (2006 Census)
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Education
School attendance is compulsory throughout Australia. In most Australian States at 5–6years of age all children receive 11 years of compulsory education, then can move on to complete two more years (Years 11 and 12), contributing to an adult literacy rate that is assumed to be 99%. In theProgramme for International Student Assessment, Australia regularly scores among the top five of thirty major developed countries (member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment). Government grants have supported the establishment of Australia's 38 universities the majority of universities receive government funding. There is a state-based system of vocationaltraining, higher than colleges, known as TAFE Institutes, and many trades conduct apprenticeships for training new trades people. Approximately 58% of Australians aged from 25 to 64 have vocational or...